Adventures on Dungeon Planet question – does the Technician’s starting move, Command of Robots, extend to PC robots? If the Technician rolls a 10+, does the PC have to obey their command, or does it make sense to give them a chance to resist, since they’re PCs and a bit more special than ordinary NPC robots?
Johnstone Metzger
Also tagging the players this may concern: Vinney Cavallo Riley Adamson Isaac Karth Patrick S. Richard Robertson
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/soooooob
Yeah, good question! It’s not a wargame, so there’s no strict turn structure, right, so it’s legit for you to describe your character resisting before you have to act. It’s not a GM hard move, after all, so it’s not necessarily immediate and irreversible (or whatever two words Vincent used).
Which probably leaves us with the question: Does the robot think that obeying the command is a danger? If so, there’s a move for that. If not… there isn’t.
Or that’s how I would work it out anyway. Does that make sense?
Yep, thanks! That’s precisely what I was thinking. If the robot chooses to resist, the danger is being forced to follow through with the command against their will.
Let’s say the robot PC defies danger with a 10+. That would nullify the 10+ success of the Technician, so does it make sense to have the Technician mark XP if the robot fully resists, since the Technician’s move technically fails?
What if the PC robot defies danger with a partial success? Should that turn the Technician’s 10+ into a 7-9, or keep it the same as above only with a complication on the robot’s part (GM’s call as per the DD move)? Maybe a choice between the two?
I think as long as the players don’t use that combination to farm XP (and, being one of the players in question, I pledge to not do so 🙂 ) then that’s a pretty cool solution
Yeah, and it somewhat borders on PvP or has the possibility of turning into that. I don’t imagine this being a problem or even coming up in our game, but I was just curious about it in general.
Well, a 7-9 is an ugly choice, right? So, make it ugly. Plus, if it IS dangerous to command the PC robot, that’s your cue as the GM to add DANGER to the situation. Don’t limit things to just those two characters, you have everything surrounding them to contribute as well, and your own fronts and dangers.
Especially if someone misses one of those rolls. The best way to avoid PvP is to make them fear the GM more! Oh no, suddenly your two minds are linked, man and machine as one! Now whatever HP damage one of you suffers, the other one suffers it as well. You get your XP farm, I get my monsters dealing double damage. Haha!
Or you know, sparks fly, everything is on fire.
You make a very good point, Johnstone Metzger. Thanks a bunch! You’ve given me some great ideas to work with.
Great!
Can the robot use the INTERFERE move instead of Defy Danger? He is trying to prevent another player from executing his move.
I’ve always wondered if Interfere isn’t the proper move when things hedge towards player on player actions.
That could work, too. Depends on how you want to think of it. Is the robot actually interfering with the command being given, or with the technician issuing the command while they are issuing it? Or is the command, once given, a thing all of its own, a compulsion to be resisted?
This is why it’s important to consider the fiction. It’s not a board game where I roll the dice so you have to do x, y, and z for me. If I say that my command of robots is achieved by psionic zeta waves transmitting my commands directly onto robotic brain-circuits, constantly overriding their intended functions, then interfere is probably a good move for resisting. Also, if I’m knocked unconscious before the command is executed, the robot will probably cease following it.
On the other hand, if my voice is a computer virus producer and the robot has no way to prevent me from speaking, it cannot interfere with me issuing commands–but it should be able to resist the effects of the computer virus, I would think. Also, the GM has a whole different buffet of moves to make with my viral mouth, as opposed to the zeta waves, not just to use against me, but others as well.